“He’s given up a lot of plays,” Brown added. “Whoever gets that guy definitely has to take advantage.”

The options are Brown, Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, and Jerricho Cotchery. And if the Eagles give Boykin more safety help, the guys who don’t draw Boykin may be less likely to face double coverage.

Tackle Max Starks was slightly more tactful than Brown.

“As long as we block stout, (passing) shouldn’t be an issue,” Starks said. “We have a great [group] of receivers that can all get open and make plays. Plus, you add [tight end] Heath Miller in the middle, and you don’t really have enough guys who can cover. I think it’s going to be a great matchup for us. Outside of Asomugha and Cromartie-Rodgers, their nickel is a rookie. You have some guys who are inexperienced in there. Hopefully, we can get into some sets and be successful in those things.”

The passing game has been the bright spot for the Steelers, in part because of injuries on defense and ineffectiveness in the running game. The good news for the Steelers is that linebacker James Harrison (knee), safety Troy Polamalu (calf), and running back Rashard Mendenhall (knee) all fully participated in practice on Wednesday.

Yea that guy Cromartie-Rodgers is pretty good. Good to see these guys did their homework, can’t even get names right. Did they not watch the tape of the Baltimore game? Boykin spent much of the game on Bolden and held him to 0 catches. Yea, that’s zero!

If the Steelers were really smart, they would target N.A. His all-around play has been pitiful. I think the big contract affected his entire Football-Being in a very negative way. He would be much more productive working for his various charities.

Boykin has played reasonably well. He struggled with Fitzgerald….no shame in that. Against the Giants, Eli had to throw absolute perfect strikes to beat him. I like the chances of the Eagles D against the Steelers O.

Interesting. I’ve been impressed with Boykin’s athletic ability. The kid has a serious vertical. Go ahead, sleep on Boykin. Your real target should be Nhamdi. He practically gave the Giants a victory on the final drive last week. They literally threw his direction every play and he got burned every single time. Great guy, but he was fooling everyone out in Oakland as far as his abilities on the field.

funny stuff, I’m pretty sure boykin isn’t starting anymore, it’ll be Hughes in the nickel spot and Kendricks will cover Heath Miller all day. Plus, if they constantly run 3 receiver sets and and don’t keep the TE in to block, Roethlisberger is gonna spend the whole game on his back or throwin picks. There’s a reason our D is 3rd in the league in pts. allowed, 4th in INTs, and 1st in passes defensed. But that’s OK, keep thinking you’re gonna be “eatin candy” all day, its only gonna make you 1-3.

Romo has not a lot heart, the attitude, the clutch ability, the greatness. Rg3 is an ass clown. Rg3 is the bottom qb in the east and watching him magnifies the ineptitude of his skills. Rg3 frowns in his sleep at the brilliance of Romos choices. The Redskins still suck!!!!!! You’ve been warned!!!!!!

The Steelers are largely becoming the Joe Biden of the NFL. You can always count on them to make some pompous statement that makes locker room material. The problem is that they are getting to old to back it up. They should do themselves a favor and just bring in T.O. and Ocho to complete the gaffe machine.

as an eagles fan, i hope they target boykin. that dude was all over victor cruz. cruz caught some passes against boykin, but they were all short passes that boykin contested and tackled cruz immediately after the catch. love that game plan steelers! bring it!

I’m not an Eagles fan, but I liked Boykin as a gutsy undersized DB at Georgia. I hope he blows up and makes the Steelers eat their words.

Antonio Brown is a decent receiver but he shouldn’t forget that he was nobody until the Steelers were desperate enough to start throwing to him. Maybe show a little more respect for your fellow players.

steelersownyou says:
Oct 4, 2012 8:32 AM
I feel like a lil kid in a candy store playing the eagles.

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you do know this is 2012, right? better take a look at those offensive and defensive rankings: eagles #6 defense and #5 offense. if this game was being played on an even playing field (instead of steelers coming off bye), you’d definitely be in for some tainted candy in that store.

jbell33139 says:
Oct 4, 2012 8:58 AM
Won’t matter. Big Ben is going to be running for his life.

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What else is new? Yes, Ben will run for his life a number of times during the game. Do you realize that when Ben does that, 99 times out of 100 he makes a big positive play? He is the best in the league at extending plays and getting the job done.

Seriously, I cannot see the Eagles DBs shutting out the Steelers young fast WRs all game. They will get open, they will score TDs. Ben should have 3-4 TD passes easily. Especially if they get any kind of running game going.

The bigger question is can the Steelers defense with Harrison and Polamalu playing again pressure Vick into the mistakes he is prone to make when pressured?

I think with troy and harrison coming back is huge for us. Dont really think mendanhall is gunna be a factor because the RB is not the problem. Its our line. They have played surpisingly well in pass block but not so much in the run. Both teams have plenty of offensive weapons. I think we come out on top in close game because of the fact Vick isnt good at reading blitzs and thats what were good at.

phillyphannn– boykin is our slot CB; hughes is outside cb who only played when nnamdi got injured.. DRC will lock down Wallace/brown, we just need nnamdi to stay on his man and stop lookin for safety help everytime he gets beat. also need nate Allen and Kurt Coleman to stay home and avoid biting on playaction, which is how eli burned us a few times last week

i know the steelers used to talk trash in the division with the ravens, but i never knew pittsburgh to just generally talk trash. i’ve read two things this am where the steelers are talking out of school….

all i know is the steelers better have more for the eagles than they did for the raiders…. what kind of trash did they talk that day?

and i think boykin was victim of a poor plan in the arizona game. they treated fitz like a regular reciever; belichick doubled him every play the week previous….

Harrison’s knee is reportedly still hurting, which is a tad discouraging — in both the short term and the long term. It appears DeBo’s play will be sub-par, as it was in Super Bowl XLV, when his game against the Packers was compromised by injury – and his play was far below his customary standard.

As for getting DeCastro back, it was posted on this site that he was walking briskly at a WVU game. Hey, that’s great news — but we need to keep in mind that “walking briskly” against air as an opponent is a lot less demanding than trench warfare versus Geno Atkins or Haloti Ngata.

Regarding Mendenhall, the reports are he’s looked good. But if our OL continues to fail in creating run lanes — Mendy won’t be the savior. We need to give our backs some holes to work with for our play action to pack more bite.

As for calling out Boykin as “The Candy Bar,” that’s funny in a way — but if The Candy Bar goes house with a pick 6 or lights up Ben on a corner blitz — Eagle Nation will go off, and Philly Fan can get pretty creative. The Battle of Pennsylvania — can’t wait.

Boykin is struggling against big time receivers, but keep in mind he is a rookie. Also, the Steelers don’t have anyone near the production level of a Fitz or a Cruz that is going to play the slot. Emmanuel Sanders?….

Eagles Fan Here: I like Boykin. That being said with these receivers, we can’t give Ben time to throw or they’ll beat any of our corners. I don’t understand why whenever we play teams with injured stars, they always come back for our game. Take another week to heal guys.